5 reasons why using objects helps improve fluency of speaking

Are you wondering how you can improve the fluency of speaking in your students? Well I’ve got a thing for you! I have found out what helps my students be more comfortable about speaking out loud in front of the class with confidence and without the fear of making mistakes, and it is very easy. Give them an object to hold.

My students’ first language is Dutch, and some of them are really scared to speak English. There are, especially to their peers, who are teenagers and can be cruel sometimes. Even if that is because they are all equally self-conscious of their speaking skills. But my focus really is on getting them to use the language in a communicative way. So I need them to practice speaking! Let me tell you what I like to do to make this happen.

Note: Wanna check out my Topic Picker Cheat Sheet to see what types of topics you can use objects for to talk about in your classes? Click here to grab it right now!

How to improve speaking fluency by using objects

Why should you use objects to improve students’ fluency in speaking English you ask? Because using objects has a few advantages that are going to make your students feel more at ease doing speaking activities.  

1. First of all, holding an object will make students feel safe. They can fidget with the object a little bit or move it around in their hands, and keeping it in front of them will create a more comfortable feeling. They can also look at said object if it doesn’t feel safe to look at their audience.
2. Second, if they have an object that they need to be talking about, they will know WHAT they must talk about. They can physically see it. This makes it easier to think of things that they want to say about it. You don’t have to be so lost for words when you can refer back to the thing you need to discuss just by looking at it.
3. Third, if you choose an object that students will know, that also makes it a more comfortable topic to talk about. It’s always easier to discuss something you know, as opposed to something you may know little or nothing about. Even if said object is not known to them, because they can see it, they can make connections with objects they do know that look like it, or work like it.
4. There is lots of vocabulary that you can use in relation to discussing objects. You can have students discuss size, texture, shape, purpose, comparison, and the story behind it. Students will ideally have learned this vocabulary already before taking on the task. And that makes it pretty easy for them to fall back on that prior knowledge they have.
5. Last, when discussing objects, students can dive into use of their senses in connection to the chosen object. Their senses operate (mostly) on the surface, so it’s not a hard task to tell the audience what an object looks like, smells like, sounds like, feels like, and tastes like. Maybe not that last one, unless it’s food you’re discussing 🙂

Some tips before you start

Here are some English speaking fluency tips. Whatever you do, though, make sure that your students are really at ease with the task of speaking in front of the class. Make sure they know that making mistakes is allowed. That they will not be laughed at by their peers. It’s therefore essential that you create a safe environment in which students do not laugh at each other. And they should also know that in the fight between fluency vs accuracy, fluency trumps accuracy, not the other way around. It’s way more important that they are not afraid to speak than it is to speak in a perfect way.

Fluency speaking activities

So what can you do with objects in your language lessons? For beginning students you can have them bring an object that they must describe in front of the class. Like I mentioned before, you can have them discuss size, texture, shape, purpose, comparison, and the story behind the object if they know it. For more advanced students you can have them describe what their senses are telling them.

You can bring objects to review vocabulary, but also grammar. Comparative and superlative adjectives, adverbs, modals, prepositions, and pronouns. These are all great topics to use objects for so that students can practice using these grammar points in action about said objects. You can have more advanced students give a persuasive speech, using rhetorical devices on why it’s such a great object.

You can use objects at the beginning of lessons to introduce a topic students will be learning about. Or you can use it at the end to review a topic students just learned about. You can have students speak in front of the class. Or you can have them speak to each other in pairs of small groups. 

Other ways to improve speaking fluency in english

Other ways I like to improve my students’ fluency involve discussion cards, statement carousels, and speed dating. Games like Four Corners and Odd One Out are also super fun ways of getting students to speak. Then there are story cubes that I use to help students create stories for each other, which they so enjoy. Anything basically, that will get them to talk in class, just for fun, is just so valuable to me. Check out my other articles on speaking topics here.

And grab a my free Topic Picker Cheat Sheet, so you can quickly see what you can use objects for in your lesson as early as tomorrow!